A new team has entered NASCAR. On Thursday, venture capitalist Matt Hurley announced the formation of H2 Motorsports, which will field the #28 Toyota Supra for Shane Lee starting in June’s Iowa Speedway race with the hope of running every Xfinity race onward.
“It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve been patiently waiting for the right opportunity to present itself and that time is now,” Lee stated in a release. “This is the biggest step yet in my career and I appreciate the confidence Matt Hurley and H2 Motorsports has shown in me. I wish the Iowa Speedway race was tomorrow because I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of that #28 Circuit City Toyota Supra.”
In 2018, Lee ran thirteen Xfinity races in Richard Childress Racing‘s #3, recording three top-ten finishes and a best run of fourth at Kansas Speedway. The previous year, he finished third in the ARCA Racing Series championship as he scored top tens in all but six races.
Pete Rondeau will serve as Lee’s crew chief. After working with Jasper Motorsports at the turn of the millennium, he joined Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2001, and had stints as Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s crew chief. In mid-2005, he was released by DEI moved to Evernham Motorsports to become the Director of Research and Development.
For the 2010 season, he became Furniture Row Racing‘s car chief, but replaced Ryan Coniam as crew chief during the year; working with Regan Smith, the two won FRR’s first NASCAR race at the 2011 Southern 500. He became FRR’s Competition Director in 2013, and helped lead the team to the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series championship with Martin Truex Jr.
Credit: Mike Traverse
Circuit City is an electronics retailer that enjoyed success in the late 1990s and early 2000s before collapsing due to bankruptcy. In NASCAR, it was a prominent sponsor of Stavola Brothers Racing‘s #8 car driven by Hut Sticklin in the Cup Series from 1996 to 1998. A decade later, shortly before its liquidation, the company returned to the sport as an associate sponsor of J.J. Yeley for the 2008 Daytona 500.
After tumultuous revival attempts, the Circuit City name was acquired by Ronny Shmoel, who brought it back in 2016 as an online brand. The new Circuit City was launched in 2018.
The Florida-based Hurley is the head of the private equity firm H2 Organization, serving as its Chief Investment Officer since 2016. Prior to H2, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Torchlight, an advertising firm.
Lee had teased his return to the Xfinity Series in late April:
H2’s maiden race is scheduled to be 16 June’s Iowa 250. In Lee’s two Xfinity starts at the track in 2018, he finished sixteenth and thirteenth.
